Thursday, January 7, 2010

Thanks

It was March 1994,an icy cold Himachal morning and it was drizzling a bit which made the chill drench down your spine.

I had recently joined St lukes.I must say it was hugely intimidating(2000 students) in comparison to my last school(200 students).
My family valued the admission to St Lukes so much that anything (homework,any function,new dress or books) related to the school was a concern of the highest order.Full house went into a emergency mode as if we owed "Saint Luke" something and wanted to please him.

This story goes back to a day when our social science teacher had asked us to bring an Atlas to class.I think i was in class 4.
I told PAPA , he made sure he got it on his way back from office.Somehow while packing my bag i forgot to put the atlas in.
I reached the school campus and was sitting alone at my seat,
being a new comer i hadn't mixed up with my classmates.

As first class was Social Science i opened my bag and searched for the atlas.
I zipped and unzipped all small and big zips in my bag but it was just not there.
I started to shiver ...a bit due to the temperature but mostly due to the missing item.

It was already 7:50am,class would start at 8:45am.
I would be beaten in front of the whole class or may be she throws me out of the class.
No No its just an atlas ..she'll not throw me out.

All these thoughts were running

I thought what can i do..i ran towards a shop just close to our school and made a call to PAPA.
I told him about the atlas ,he also panicked as he had bought it the day before and how could i forget it at home.
I started crying on the phone and told him that i was coming home.
He told me to stay and he would get the atlas for me.
It was 8:05 already and it usually took 45 minutes(on foot),time was less and we didn't have our scooter(chetak) also at that time,
moreover it was raining,temperature was around 2-3 degrees but i was not thinking about that at all.

I was just thinking about the beating i would get in class.I was helplessly looking at the curve on the road and hoping the next person on the curve would be PAPA.I was getting so restless that i would move to that curve and then look at the next curve as i thought...that if he has reached there i would run and get the atlas myself.

It was 8:25am and i was totally wet in that rain... waiting for PAPA but he was just not there.
I was crying ,i didn't want to go in the class but what should i do ,the school gate would also close in other 5 minutes.

I gathered all my courage and thought i am going in and would face whatever comes from that teacher.
8:45 class started ,she took attendance .She asks if all of us have brought our atlas.The class replies YES in unison.
I don't remember if i said Yes or No.
Whole class bent and opened the bags ,they got there atlas' out.
I also bent but i didn't want to come up,i kept searching for the non existent atlas.

Then she asked if anyone who has not brought the atlas please stand up.
This was the moment i was dreading for long.I stood up ...shivering..crying and hoping she doesn't beat me up.
She asked me why didn't i get it?
I replied the bisyllable "Sorry"  [As you might remember Curtain...anything longer that required a lot of time]

She said "no sorry...nothing. All those who have not got the atlas please come forward.Careless Fellows"

The moment she said this there was a knock on the class door....
I am standing there and i looked up as i knew it should be PAPA.
Door opened ....

No it is not PAPA ,it is some helper.

It was 9:05am i think, we careless fellows have been standing in front of the class for 20 minutes...class teacher told all of us to go back to our seats.
And then what do i see...PAPA is standing on the door wearing a yellow raincoat....and waving the atlas towards me
he is panting...he is out of breath ...he is drenched with i don't know if it is sweat or it is rain because he has come running from my place to School.
He has ran 4 kilometers in 2 degree temp just to make up for my mistake.

I got angry as it was of no use now....i didn't thank him because he was 20 minutes late.
Why didn't he run faster to save me from the punishment?

All these years he has done a lot to make up for my mistakes...i didn't thank him then and i rarely do thank him now also.

I just want to thank him from the bottom of my heart and give him a hug for all those races i have made him run.

Thanks PAPPA. :)

20 comments:

lony said...

I do hope that Uncle would read this piece.

divya said...

Reminds me of so many things for which i forgot to thank my PAA too...
thanks sir for giving me the opportunity to remember all those precious moments...

agam said...

Nice One !!!

Unknown said...

awesome!!
every tym i scroll down, there is an instant fear that dwells n i just hope that god dont let it get over so soon. as i said earlier itz an addiction

Shamail said...

Oye, what if your papa would have come on time? ;-)

Ekta said...

Life is a journey of relationships and experiences.
To strangers, we say thanks for handing over a pen only and to parents, the most important ones, rarely do we think of thanks for what they did for us and sorry for what we did.
And the beauty of this relationship is that they never expect these basic courtesies from us either.

Kritika vashist said...

I'm really glad that my son has a sense of gratitude towards my efforts,which were always aimed to see him at the top and I'm a real proud father to say that God has gifted me a very precious child who has never let us down in any aspect.Your every rising step is a reward for the struggles which I undertook to see you ahead in every race of life.GOD BLESS U SON... n alwayz remember "S PUTRA YATRA NIVRITI"

kritika vashist said...

bhaiya these were xactly papa's words..no dilutions

Shveta said...

i made some typos in the previous one;)
that was quite a piece gaurav,heart wrenching and nostalgic. Our dads are made of some exclusive flesh and blood, the kind that he upthere has run out of....and honestly gratitude would sincerely be an understatement...na?

Isha said...

cute ,emotional, touching and sad hehe........... very nice bro..........dis is how cute parents are so da all u can do for dem....

Gaurav Vashist said...

@All- Thanks a lot for all your comments.I hope all of you tried to thank your parents after reading this, if you didn't thank them i just wish that you felt thankful to whatever they have did.
@PAPA- Gratitude to bahut chota word hai papa ji...thanks for everything.

ManojBlogs said...

Simply Amazing gobi.. I have heard this story before also.. but the way you portray your thoughts into words is incredible.. An art would definitely like to learn .. U gotta be my mentor bhai... :)
And yes... A beautiful way to say thanx to your parents...
I read it.. and I called up my parents immediately.. :|

Bhagwaan tumhe din doguni raat chauguni tarakki de..

Unknown said...

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes......I fully agree with this...You are really our HERO...words are not enough to explain that ....how much your every single word...values us. I know i am short of words but my son Gauri..You were only 4 years old when You started reading News Paper....from that very day I was very sure that my this son ...PARIVAR KA NAAM ROSHAN KAREGA....God bless you...I fully agree with Manoj...He should also be greatful and thankful to his parents....in writing...l ove you beta..thanks for thanking my Dewar ji even we are very thankful to him for blessing us such a pyara nd valuable, beta..Keep it up...Tayee...ji

Unknown said...

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes......I fully agree with this...You are really our HERO...words are not enough to explain that ....how much your every single word...values us. I know i am short of words but my son Gauri..You were only 4 years old when You started reading News Paper....from that very day I was very sure that my this son ...PARIVAR KA NAAM ROSHAN KAREGA....God bless you...I fully agree with Manoj...He should also be greatful and thankful to his parents....in writing...l ove you beta..thanks for thanking my Dewar ji even we are very thankful to him for blessing us such a pyara nd valuable, beta..Keep it up...Tayee...ji

Gaurav Vashist said...

Thanks a lot tayee ji....

Romanov's World said...

Good Stuff man!!!!

Unknown said...

:)

Gaurav Vashist said...

@Tintin and Sandy
Thanks bros... :)

sidhant said...

:)

tanuj said...

Very nice it was very innocently interpreted good work.